In the high-wire cucumber cultivation, higher planting densities are used to obtain higher yields per m2. In addition, high-wire cultivation allows a longer cultivation period during which the plant produces cucumber fruits. However, not all varieties are fit for this type of cultivation. It is the goal of the present invention to provide a means for identifying such plants.
In WO2009/059777 cucumber plants that are suitable for high-wire cultivation are described. The disclosed cucumber plants express, in comparison with the usual type of long cucumber shorter internodes, shorter lateral shoots, smaller and darker leaves which remain green for longer, less bumpy leaves, smaller flowers, a more horizontal orientation of the leaves, shorter fruits, and above all a slower growth rate. These characteristics are caused by an unknown genetic determinant which is referred to as the “compact gene”. It was described that the genetic locus of the compact gene can be demonstrated and monitored with the aid of flanking AFLP markers in descendants obtained by hybridizing a cucumber plant that may comprise this genetic locus with a short cucumber type or a gherkin type plant that does not contain this genetic locus, and the genetic locus in question can be introduced, by hybridization, into every plant that can be hybridized with a cucumber plant according to the present invention.
However, the AFLP markers that are disclosed in the application are not polymorphic in long cucumber types, therefore selecting a long cucumber type that may comprise the compact gene involves first crossing such a plant with a short cucumber or gherkin (both lacking the compact gene) and analyzing the progeny of such cross (e.g. the F1 and/or F2 generation) with one or more of the disclosed AFLP markers linked to the compact locus.
The AFLP markers disclosed in WO2009/059777 are thus not very convenient to work with and the method described therein is very laborious and inefficient. Furthermore, the use of AFLP markers as an identification and monitoring tool has become outdated, because sequencing tools are becoming more sophisticated and less expensive this recent decade. This makes it difficult, if not impossible to find service companies or organizations that can perform AFLP analyses.
Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.